Upanishads are hidden secrets from the Vedas. They should be learnt by people who are real seekers. 

Creation is a chance given to the souls to improve themselves and that chance has been provided by God due to his compassion.

The 3 fundamental entities are (1) all the living entities that have consciousness, a soul (cit) (2) All that is seen called nature and also includes the inert objects (acit) 3) And the union of nature and soul happens because of another entity called God (ishwaran) – who helps the souls to get rid of their Karma. Souls have Karma with them forever and they cannot act on their own and they need help from God.

All the 3 entities cit (soul) acit (nature and inert objects) and Ishwaran are permanent but there is a difference in their consistency. The entity called God, is constant in terms of form and nature. Both are constant. For the soul, the form is constant but not the nature. And for prakruti / nature – both the form and the qualities are inconsistent.

Cit means an object with ‘chetana’ or knowledge. One having knowledge of his own is called Cit or soul. It is very subtle in its form and cannot be divided any further. But the knowledge that it inherits is limitless and can expand to any distance any time without any restrictions. However, when the soul is contained in a body, the expansion of the knowledge will be conditioned only to that particular body. 

Cit / Ji:va / Ji:va:tma are all synonymous. Every visible form present contains ji:va:tma in them. It is functional in moving entities (human beings, animals, birds etc) and non-functional in inert objects. These inert objects are what is referred to as acit 

In every part of the human body there are multiple cells. This is true for body of any moving entity, be it an animal, insect, bird, etc. Each cell contains a soul of its own. It implies that they have a separate ji:va:tma. Since this is a biological body, the jivatma is able to exhibit itself. However there is only one prime cell or one prime soul which is the owner. This owner adopts many other souls in the process of its growth. All the other several billions of cells serve the master soul and are subservient to the master. And as long as the owner soul is present these will function. If the owner is not there they stop functioning. In that case these subservient cells go to their original state and need to start the process of finding a body again based on their karmic journey.  

Yes, inert objects also contain a soul in them. Here, the ji:va cannot exhibit itself or function. The stone is formed with a specific ji:va in it and when the formation took place other ji:vas also joined. When the stone breaks, the pieces with their souls become independent on their own. There is no relationship like master servant here, as stone is an inert object and the souls need not function. The non-functional status continues in the individual pieces as well. However the soul will be carrying with it, the karmic records of its past. Depending on the records, the particular stone maybe used in a temple or devotees house or in a graveyard or in a drainage. 

Parama:tma (I:shwara) is the all-pervasive controller. There are objects such as sky and air which pervade but do not control. He pervades and controls in all respects and that’s why He is called Parama:tma (“parama” from paro: ma, meaning there is no one superior than Him to control). God has the qualities and abilities to control.  

Visishtadwaita is qualified monism. Essentially, a seed and tree are the same. Seed is the one that contains many things. Many things come out from a seed and once again they go back into a small seed. The seed is the micro version and the tree is the expanded version or macro version. Both the micro and macro versions are one and the same and contain many things in them. That is Visistadwaita. God is like seed, the micro version. Contained within him is nature and the souls. The world that is seen is His expanded form. Both God and the world are not different but the cause and effect. Both are qualified ones. Qualified means visistam. 

Relationship between Cit, Acit and Ishwara is like the body (Cit, Acit) and the soul (Ishwara)

The universe is of a permanent nature but constantly changes forms and shapes and thus names and purpose. It is always in a state of flux.

Creation and destruction of the universe are part of the recycling process in order to purify the universe. The previous form is lost to get a new form. 

Karma is the record of each and every one of the activities done by the soul. Karma cannot be tampered with. It is like the black box in flight which keeps recording but does not get destroyed. 

The effect of doing good and bad things is reducing or adding the karmic records

The soul in acit will be getting rid of karma. Adding comes when one feels and if that doesn’t happen, karma is not added. It is the thought process that makes the karma to be added or recorded. If one is free form ego, karma is not added. So, in an inert object form, there are no feelings or ego, hence karma is not added. There is no creation of new karma in acit, but reduction of past karma happens.

The living cells inside moving entities like humans cannot think for themselves. But they do experience karma and hence they joined the main body. When the owner soul does good, then good karma is added to their account and when the owner experiences bad, their bad karma is reduced. 

The effect of karma cannot be nullified by anyone. No one can meddle with karma or tamper with it. God has the ability to transfer the karma. When He decides to take a person to his abode, God transfers the good karma to the people who liked this person and the bad karma to the people who did not like this person. Once the soul is thus rid of all the karma, God takes the person to His abode. The person who is liberated does not have their karma disappear. Someone else has to experience. There is no question of nullification of karma.

There are trillions and zillions of soul, basically countless ad such a situation will never arise. 

A soul lives forever means that a soul can never be destroyed. In order to destroy something, you have to be able to enter the object. A soul is so small and subtle that there is nothing that can enter it and hence it cannot be destructed. However, perumal can enter it but he enters in a different way in the form of energy. Since the soul cannot be destroyed, it lives forever. 

We call something as death when the current body is left behind. So, soul has no body at all. so  Thus, there is no question of death to the soul.

“Vaisnava janato tene: kahiye je pi:d para:ye ja:ne re:” Vaishnav is the one whose heart cries, feeling the pain of others . Vaishnavism is the sect which teaches compassion.

Sri Vaishnavism is about feeling the presence of God everywhere. It talks about the jiva’s relationship with God Vishnu in all respects. Visistadwaita is about knowing the concept of the universe, the inseparable relationship between the nature and souls with God – both in subtle form and in gross form. Visistadwaita is more concept oriented whereas Vaishnavism is the practical part. 

Sri Vaishnavism helps anyone by giving us the knowledge that all the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Lord. Whether its joy or sorrow He’s the one who enjoys and not us.

One reaches the complete state of joy forever by surrendering to Lord Vishnu, the master controller of the universe. if one surrenders then He takes care of it. 

Act of surrendering to God means developing the mental faith that you dedicate yourself and your activities to God and that He’s monitoring us always. Surrendering does not mean helplessness out of incapability of doing things. It is the act where you have complete faith in what God does. Sita could have burnt down Ravana to ashes but she did not do so, as she had surrendered to Rama and held the belief that He will take care of her. 

Complete state of joy while being on earth is not possible because of Prakruti or nature. Because, it is always in the fluctuating mode of satva, rajas and tamas. 

The act of surrender involves surrendering to God through all 3 instruments – physical, mental and verbal forms.

Mukti/moksha are words given for the release of soul from the karmic bondage

The Vedas and vedic literature talks about Vaishnavism. They are our primary source texts. We can use the commentaries of our acharyas to understand the same. Apart from this, Bhagavad Gita is best recommended. 

Bhagavad Gita is a message of God for us, to apply and to put it in action. 

Azhvars are chosen souls of God who dive deep into the ocean of qualities of God. They explained that experience to us, to the world in the form of verses and poems.

Divya Prabhandam is the outpouring of azhvars as a result of their great experience with God

Perumal is the first a:charya because He is the first one who showed the path of release from the karmic bondage. He showed it to His first son, Brahma: and from him to the rest of the souls. So He became the first a:charya. And He renewed that message time and again during his avata:ra’s.

A person becomes an acharya by following the great experiences of elders, practising them and passing them onto the next generation. Those who are sincere to that message join the lineage of acharyas and take the responsibility of spreading the message. It was the great Swami Ramanuja who identified people to become part of the lineage and deputed them all across the world. Those deputed people became acharya purushas and they appointed people in the next generation to carry on the message giving them the required training. Thus the lineage of knowledge continues and is still available even after 1000 years. Swami Ramanuja identified the acharyas before him as well.